Mide’s Abor with Olamide Longe
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It was getting to four in the evening. We had been ready since ten in the morning. Our boxes were packed and all we needed for the journey was ready.
Except there was no car.She had requested for a station wagon from the office couple of weeks ago and her boss had agreed to send one.
The thought of the journey had us all excited initially, we were going for my grandma’s birthday party and it was going to be a huge gathering, but the waiting had eaten up our excitement and we were just tired. We kept asking her why the car was taking so long and she kept saying it would soon come, using the time to make sure everything was perfect. She too, soon got tired of waiting and a frown etched itself on her face.
The car arrived at half past four. It was a station wagon as she requested, but it also had ambulance written boldly across it in red.
We were speechless.
She was livid.
She sent the driver away. She had changed her mind. Tomorrow morning, she and her children would go to the park and board a bus. Tell oga she was grateful.
When he departed, she told us to put our things in the car. We were leaving immediately and she was going to drive. When we held back, too stunned to move, her soft tone turned into a bark.
She shared a few unflattering words about her boss. Imagine what her folks would think if an ambulance pulled up in front of their house.
She drove as if she was taking us to school. Other cars flew by. She kept her pace, an inscrutable look on her face.
I worried for her. We were travelling from the North to the Southwest and had set off very late.
My younger brother asked from the back when we would arrive at our destination. She told him whenever we got there.
That seemed to satisfy him.
She told me to keep talking to her.
She didn’t have to ask twice.
We got to a place called Forest and she stopped. It was like a minimart for travellers. She bought us drinks, snacks, akara, and fried yam. She allowed us to stretch our legs for a bit and then it was back in the car.
Soon it was dark and the number of cars on the road began to diminish. I asked if we were going to stop and lodge somewhere. I got an emphatic no for an answer.
She asked me to play a tape of gospel songs. Should we all fall asleep, it wouldn’t be too quiet in the car. However, I was determined to stay awake.
It got even darker and our car became one of the few cars on the road in the midst of trucks and buses. Sometimes ours would be the lone car on the road and she would increase her speed until we came upon another vehicle.
Whenever we stopped at checkpoints, the police officers would exclaim in horror and try to convince her to stop, but she became even more determined.
We arrived about mid-morning the next day. It had been the longest journey of my life. Unfortunately, I hadn’t been able to keep awake the entire trip. I woke up to see lush greens, when before I drifted off, all I could make out were shadows, and she told me we were just about two hours from our destination.
Everyone was in awe of her when they learned what she had done. She only laughed and made some dry jokes. While we settled in, she freshened up and went to rest. And, we got lost in the preparation for the party taking place the next day.
The party was great and we had a wonderful time.
When it was time to return to home, a family friend offered her his driver. She thanked him but refused.
This time we set off early in the morning. I was not as bothered as when we came. I was excited. It was daytime.
We had been travelling for hours. She was doing a steady 100. The journey had been smooth and quite interesting. It had been pure joy just taking in the plains and hills.
We could see through trees to the hills, having left the dense foliage of the Southwest where we began our journey behind. The sun was at its peak, glaring down at the asphalt-covered roads as the car ate up the miles.
Then we hit a long stretch of road. No curves. No bends. The more miles you devoured, the more you see taunting you. There was a certain vehicle ahead of us, which was moving at a regular speed. She was chafing. It could go faster, she believed, but it wasn’t and she felt held back. Suddenly, she lost her patience. She stepped on the gas and moved up to overtake the car. The road was single carriage and the thought of expanding it had not yet been conceived.
When she decided she’d had enough there was a 14-wheeler coming down the other lane. Her mind, however, was made up. She faced the oncoming vehicle and flashed her lights. I could hear the truck’s horn blaring. The driver of the truck flashed his own lights in warning.
I caught the eyes of the driver of the vehicle we were overtaking as she drew level with him. They were incredulous. She hit 140.
She made it.
She gave the truck driver thumbs up as she returned to her lane. We made it by a hair’s breadth. My spirit came back from where it had fled.
The truck driver must have stepped on the brake at the last minute, or something; how else had we escaped being crushed? I exhaled and she chuckled. My siblings were silent in the back seat. What we’d witnessed was better lived. She didn’t look back. After that, she never went less than 120, eating up miles and dusting other cars.
It was as if that feat freed her; unleashed the superwoman in her. She was the only female driver on the road as far as I could tell. Whenever we got to any checkpoint, the men, with a “hail and how do you do”, waved her on.
She bought roasted bush meat to gift her boss. She was grateful to him. In sending her that horrible car, he’d liberated her.
She was reborn.
In life, nothing was insurmountable.
